When fastening two components to each other in certain industries, such as e.g. the vehicle industry, it can sometimes be desirable to have these two components arranged at a distance. This allows for additional play between the components and reduces wear from friction between them. This is especially important when mounting e.g. headlamps to the vehicle or when mounting interior components such as the instrument panel to the body of the vehicle. This also allows mounting of the components to be more flexible, as there is a certain range within which the components may be mounted. This allows lower requirements on tolerance on the structural dimensions of components being mounted.
This range is commonly referred to as a tolerance range, i.e. a range of tolerance within which it is desirable to keep the components after fastening. This is achieved using equipment called tolerance absorbers. Tolerance absorbers are used to keep the two components within the desired tolerance range. Some tolerance absorbers of conventional design include a detail on a threaded section of a bolt arranged to prevent the bolt from being screwed in into the body of the vehicle.
A type of tolerance absorber is shown in DE202007008643 U1. In this tolerance absorber, two parts, screwable at opposing directions, are used to control the distance between the two components.
Another type of tolerance absorber is shown in DE4300710A, in which an elastic sleeved deformation piece is arranged around a threaded sleeve, which is secured in one of the components. As long as the threaded sleeve is pressed together by being screwed in, the elastic sleeved deformation piece is deformed to hold the other component, thus keeping the components held together.
While the solutions found in the prior art work well in some situations, there is still room for an improved tolerance absorber.